Requesting a copy of
credit report should be the first step you take in trying to repair your
credit. This way you can see which
debts are hurting your score and which are improving the score.
Obtaining Your Credit Report - The First Step in Credit Repair
Your credit rating is one of the most important things in determining your economic
status.
With a good credit rating, you will have no problems obtaining loans, mortgages,
credit cards, etc... But if you've missed payments with a creditor in the
past, your creditor will report this to a credit reporting agency, which will make
a note of it on your
credit report. Once you have a
bad credit rating, many doors will be
closed to you: you'll be unable to obtain most kinds of loans, and without a credit
card you won't be able to shop online, or rent a car. For these reasons it
is important that you attempt credit
repair as soon as possible.
The first step in credit repair
is to obtain your credit report from your credit reporting agency. There are
only a handful of credit reporting agencies in Canada and the US. You can
determine which one holds your
credit report when you are turned down for credit: your decided credit card
application, for example, will indicate which agency provided the report.
It is always your right to obtain your
credit report free of charge. To do you can visit the agency website
and download an application, and then mail it, along with photocopied ID, to the
agency. You should receive your
credit report though the mail in a timely fashion. Credit reporting
agencies also allow you to obtain your credit history instantly online, though a
fee is charges for this.
Whatever route you choose, in terms of
credit repair it's essential that you examine your
credit report closely once you get it. You should be looking for
any inaccuracies in your report. If you find any, you have the right to request
an investigation in writing from the agency. Once you have requested that
a particular item in your credit history be investigated, the agency must respond
within 30 days providing documentation of the entry in question. If they fail
to do so, the entry must be removed from your credit report.
When requesting that something on your
credit report be investigated, you should send any supporting documentation
if you have it. Although it is not common, in some cases the agencies make
outright mistakes, or confuse your information with another customer with the same
name. If an entry in your credit history is being investigated, you may also
request that the agency mark the entry in question as "under investigation" on your
file.
Although it can seem like a cumbersome process, it is absolutely imperative that
you obtain your credit history before you attempt
credit repair. Without your credit history, you won't know exactly
where you stand, only that your credit is "bad." What you need to know is
how bad credit is, and why. For example, are you dealing with a single outstanding
issue or multiple ones? How long has the problematic mark been in your credit
history and for long will it remain? Knowledge of these things is essential
in order to begin the process of
credit repair effectively.